Philip Morris
Philip A. Morris (born c. 1940 in Kansas City, Missouri; died September 14, 2017 in Birmingham) was the editor of Southern Living and editor-at-large with Southern Progress Corporation. He was also an architectural historian and critic and was deeply involved in preservation and urban design issues in Birmingham.
Morris received a degree in English literature from Rockhurst College in Kansas City, and began his career in journalism as a reporter for The Daily Oklahoman, the Oklahoma City Times and The Oklahoma Journal in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1969 he moved to Birmingham to accept the position of building editor for Southern Living magazine. His role was increased to include landscape design and he served as senior design editor before being named executive editor of the publication in 1976.
Morris was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1984. He was named editor-at-Large for the parent company Southern Progress Corporation in 1991, a position he held until his retirement in 2000. He also served as chair and president of Operation New Birmingham.
Morris served a term as president of the Birmingham Historical Society and co-authored several books on architecture and historic buildings published by the organization. He also served on the boards of the Vulcan Park Foundation, the Friends of Linn Park, the Horizon 280 Association, the Birmingham Botanical Society, Design Alabama, and the American Architectural Foundation. He volunteered his expertise with design teams working on Linn Park, Railroad Park, Birmingham's City Center, Mountain Brook's villages, and other projects. He was a judge for the "Prize 2 the Future" contest and chaired the Mountain Brook Villages Design Review Committee. He was an honorary member of both the American Institute of Architects and American Society of Landscape Architects.
Morris also initiated the creation of the Birmingham Architecture & Design Collection at the Birmingham Public Library archives and established a community catalyst fund through the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham to support "transformational projects" for Birmingham.
Morris received the Alabama Humanities Award in 1994, Birmingham-Southern College's "Medal of Service" in 2003, and a Vulcans Community Award for "servant leadership" in 2016.
Publications
- Morris, Philip A. & Marjorie L. White (1989) Designs On Birmingham: A Landscape History Of A Southern City And Its Suburbs. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society ISBN 0943994144
- Bowsher, Alice; Philip A. Morris & Marjorie L. White (1990) Cinderella Stories: Transformations Of Historic Birmingham Buildings. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society ISBN 0943994179
- Morris, Philip A. (1995) Vulcan & His Times. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society ISBN 0943994209
- Morris, Philip A. & Marjorie L. White (1997) Birmingham Bound: An Atlas of the South's Premier Industrial Region 1850-present. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society ISBN 0943994225
References
- Tomberlin, Michael (January 23, 2011) "Philip Morris, architectural activist and historic preservationist." The Birmingham News
- "Groundbreakers" (December 2013) Birmingham magazine